Treasure in the Medieval West

Overview

Overview

Studies highlight the importance of treasure, real and metaphorical, in medieval culture.

Treasure is a broad subject, which can be understood in a number of ways, from the economic to the aesthetic, the personal to the political; for the middle ages, it is both a powerful cultural reality and a metaphor. However, despite its importance, this is the first volume to be devoted to the subject. The articles bring together a variety of critical approaches and themes in different periods and contexts throughout the medieval period, covering subjects such as gender, fashion, patronage, ethnicity, death and burial, piety, display and poetics.

ELIZABETH M. TYLER teaches at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York.

Table of Contents

Treasure, Death and Display from Rome to the Middle Ages - Dominic Janes'You Can't Take It with You': Testaments, Hoards and Movable Wealth in Europe, 600-1100 - Timothy A ReuterBurial as Poetry: the Context of Treasure in Anglo-Saxon Graves - Martin CarverIdeal and Reality: Version of Treasure in the Early Anglo-Saxon World - Leslie WebsterQueens and Treasure in the Early Middle Ages - Pauline Stafford'When Wings Incarnadine with Gold are Spread': The Vita Ædwardi Regis and the Display of Treasure at the Court of Edward the ConfessorEdward the Confessor - Elizabeth M. TylerThe Goldenes Rössl and the French Royal Collections - Jenny StratfordLusti tresor: the Economics of the Erotic in Gower's Confessio Amantis - Nicola F McDonald'Treasure in Earthen Vessels': Jewellery and Plate in Late Medieval Hoards - Donald Barry